Publications

March 2024
Case

Funderbeam: Teaming Up or Going Alone?

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Orna Dan

Funderbeam, a global platform founded in Estonia to enable start-ups to run private syndications and secondaries while offering liquidity for private equity investors, was at a crossroads. Over its ten-year run, the company had expanded its services and areas of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Transition; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ownership Stake; Expansion; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Estonia; Republic of Ireland; United Kingdom; Singapore

March 2013
Article

Bridging the Gap? Government Subsidized Lending and Access to Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Kristle Romero-Cortes

The consequences of providing public funds to financial institutions remain controversial. We examine the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund's impact on credit union activity, using hitherto little studied U.S. Treasury data. The CDFI Fund grants... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Credit; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; United States

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16 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Josh Lerner

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How the Giants of Enterprise Seized the Future

"quarter") exercised no influence on his investment strategy. He believed that conservative funding was called for in an industry in the midst of technological transformation. Therefore, he always... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

January 2010
Article

Buy Local? The Geography of Successful Venture Capital Expansion

By: Henry Chen, Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner and Josh Lerner

We document geographic concentration by both venture capital firms and venture capital-financed companies in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Boston, and New York. We find that venture capital firms locate in regions with high success rates of venture... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Expansion; Success; Capital; Geographic Location; Business Units; Corporate Accountability; Business Offices; Goals and Objectives; Mission and Purpose; Investment Funds; Corporate Governance; Boston; New York (state, US); San Francisco

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Web

Financial Management of Smaller Firms - Course Catalog

https://courseware.hbs.edu/video/?v=0_cteitfd6 Course Content and Organization The course first focuses on how to buy a small business. We begin with the case of two HBS MBAs who chose to purchase a small business using a search View Details

January 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Matrix Capital Management (A)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and David Lane

Ben Balbale, a partner at hedge fund Matrix Capital, must decide whether to exit their investment in Rovi Corporation, a company with a diverse portfolio of patents used primarily for digital interactive guides. Rovi's shares are up over 50% from the time Balbale... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Stock Shares; Financial Markets; Investment Funds; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Strategy; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

01 Jun 2001
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

all expectations. We are indebted, as well, to the extraordinary cadre of HBS Fund volunteers, who are uniquely qualified to articulate the reasons why HBS needs your financial support. Given the vast number... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details

January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Capital Allocation at HCA

By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb

In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details

Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States

01 Oct 1996
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

made up of a diverse group of graduates. Twelve members are appointed to the Board each year through a nominating process that starts in the fall and involves input from a variety View Details

Keywords: Cathy Connett

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Right Connections

capital on their ability to secure resources. "In biotech it can take eight to ten years to develop a product and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it to market," says Higgins.... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

2017
Chapter

Innovation Policies

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Past work has shown that failure tolerance by principals has the potential to stimulate innovation, but has not examined how this affects which projects principals will start. We demonstrate that failure tolerance has an equilibrium price – in terms of an investor’s... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Failure Tolerance; Innovation and Invention; Venture Capital; Attitudes; Investment; Failure

2017
Working Paper

Innovation Policies

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Past work has shown that failure tolerance by principals has the potential to stimulate innovation, but has not examined how this affects which projects principals will start. We demonstrate that failure tolerance has an equilibrium price ― in terms of an investor's... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Failure Tolerance; Venture Capital; Attitudes; Investment; Failure; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

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June 2013
Teaching Note

Rock Health

By: Robert Higgins and Ian McKown Cornell

This is the teaching note associated with HBS Case #813035. The case should enable students to identify emerging challenges, evaluate Rock Health's funding model, debate the effectiveness of its incubation service and assess its long-term viability. View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Incubation; Healthcare Technology; Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; San Francisco; California; United States

30 Jun 2019
News

Open-Plan Work Spaces Lower Productivity And Employee Morale

10 Jul 2023
Video

Advice to Underestimated Entrepreneurs

May 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Sovereign Wealth Funds: For Profits or Politics?

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

On March 21, 2008, the U.S. government secured an agreement from two leading sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to adopt a new set of investment principles to govern the Funds' activities. SWFs, broadly defined as an investment fund owned by a national or a government, were... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Funds; Sovereign Finance; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; International Relations; State Ownership; United States